Cops: career burglar arrested

John Nickerson

Updated 9:01 pm, Friday, March 8, 2013

STAMFORD -- A career burglar who is the prime suspect in many overnight burglaries of city businesses during at least the past two months was arrested Thursday morning, police said.

Anibal Figuero-Marrero, 31, of 405 W. Main St., Stamford, was picked up near the Two Brothers Grocery, at 232 Stillwater Ave., for questioning in a break-in there.

After police determined he was in possession of drug paraphernalia and had a warrant for his arrest for failing to appear at court on Feb. 27, Figuero-Marrero was taken into custody and questioned for a number of other burglaries, Property Crimes Unit Sgt. Andrew Gallagher said.

Arrest warrants charging him with the grocery burglary and Wednesday morning break-in at nearby Athens Pizza on West Main Street are being prepared, police said.

Gallagher said Figuero-Marrero's arrest will decrease the number of business break-ins.

Lt. Diedrich Hohn said drug informants told police Thursday morning that Figuero-Marrero had committed numerous burglaries over the past two weeks. After the Two Brothers owners discovered the burglary, police found Figuero-Marrero closeby on Stillwater Avenue, Hohn said.

At Figuero-Marrero's arraignment before Judge Bruce Hudock at state Superior Court in Stamford Friday afternoon, he was ordered held in lieu of $6,000 bond.

"This guy was a one-man hurricane," Gallagher said; Figuero-Marrero is small and slim enough to crawl through security window bars and other tight spaces.

He was caught Thursday with a company check that tied him to a previously unreported burglary of a dry cleaner on Cove Road, Gallagher said; police found crack pipe stems and a syringe when they searched him.

Figuero-Marrero's arrest came after the two most recent burglaries of the pizza parlor and the grocery store that brought together five Police Department units working to find him, Gallagher said. The cash drawer containing nearly $20 was taken from the pizza restaurant and cigarette cartons and a few dollars were taken from the register at the grocery store, he said.

"The whole caper of his arrest came about through the help of a lot of informants from the narcotics division and the patrol guys working hard trying to catch this guy," Gallagher said.

Gallagher said Crime Scene Investigation officers were able to tie Figuero-Marrero's footwear to foot prints at the Athens Pizza burglary and his fingerprints were found there as well.